Table 3. Defined benefit retirement plans: Employee contribution requirement and method ofcontribution, State and local government workers, National Compensation Survey, March 2008

(All workers participating in defined benefit plans = 100 percent)

Characteristics

Total

Employeecontributionrequired

Fixed percent of earnings1

Employeecontibutionnotrequired

Total

Mean fixedpercent ofearnings

Medianfixedpercent ofearnings

All workers

100

77

71

6.3

6.4

23

Worker characteristics

Management, professional, and related

100

78

72

6.4

6.4

22

Professional and related

100

79

73

6.5

6.4

21

Teachers

100

80

74

6.7

6.4

20

Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers

100

80

75

6.8

6.4

20

Registered nurses

100

75

71

6.3

6.4

25

Service

100

77

71

6.6

6.5

23

Protective service

100

74

69

7.1

7.1

26

Sales and office

100

76

71

5.9

6.0

24

Office and administrative support

100

76

70

6.0

6.0

24

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance

100

73

70

5.8

6.0

27

Production, transportation, and material moving

100

79

72

6.1

6.0

21

Full time

100

77

71

6.3

6.4

23

Part time

100

86

76

6.7

7.0

14

Union

100

76

67

6.3

6.5

24

Nonunion

100

78

75

6.4

6.4

22

Average wage within the following percentiles:2

Less than 10

100

81

78

6.3

6.4

19

10 to under 25

100

77

73

6.2

6.3

23

25 to under 50

100

76

70

6.1

6.0

24

50 to under 75

100

73

68

6.3

6.3

27

75 to under 90

100

78

72

6.4

6.4

22

90 or greater

100

85

74

6.9

7.5

15

Establishment characteristics

Service-providing industries

100

77

71

6.3

6.4

23

Education and health services

100

80

73

6.5

6.4

20

Educational services

100

81

74

6.5

6.4

19

Elementary and secondary schools

100

80

75

6.6

6.4

20

Junior colleges, colleges, and universities

100

83

71

6.3

6.4

17

Health care and social assistance

100

70

64

6.1

6.0

30

Hospitals

100

61

57

5.9

6.0

39

Public administration

100

73

67

6.1

6.0

27

1 to 99 workers

100

79

73

5.9

6.0

21

1 to 49 workers

100

85

80

5.9

6.0

15

50 to 99 workers

100

74

66

6.0

6.0

26

100 workers or more

100

77

71

6.4

6.4

23

100 to 499 workers

100

79

73

6.4

6.4

21

500 workers or more

100

77

70

6.4

6.4

23

State government

100

77

66

5.8

6.0

23

Local government

100

78

73

6.5

6.4

22

Geographic areas

Middle Atlantic

100

93

92

5.3

5.5

7

East North Central

100

64

58

7.8

9.4

36

West North Central

100

94

94

5.7

4.0

6

South Atlantic

100

55

54

5.3

6.0

45

East South Central

100

90

90

6.3

7.3

10

Pacific

100

75

58

6.7

7.0

25

Footnotes:

1The employee contributes a fixed percentage of his or her earnings to the retirement plan.

2The percentile groupings are based on the average wage for each occupation surveyed, which may include workers both above and below the threshold. The percentile values are based on the estimates published in the "National Compensation Survey: Occupational Earnings in the United States, 2007." See Technical Note for more details.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria.